Yates County, New York

Beginnings [1]

Yates County was created in 1823 and named in honor of Governor Joseph C. Yates.

Nathaniel Gorham and Oliver Phelps negotiated with the Indians of the Six Nations of the Iroquois in 1788 to purchase over two-million acres of land between Lake Ontario and Pennsylvania west of the pre-emption line which ran north-south slightly west of Seneca Lake. The purchase encompassed most of Yates County.

1. Gobrecht, Larry E., New York State Office of Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation, Penn Yan Historic District, nomination document, 1984, National Park Service, National Register of Historic Places, Washington, D.C.